Obama fed up with foreign policy critics

President Barack Obama made clear Monday that he's fed up with critics who are demanding his administration respond more assertively to crises in places like Syria and Ukraine but are vague about precisely what form that response should take.

"Typically, criticism of our foreign policy has been directed at the failure to use military force. And the question I think I would have is, why is it that everybody is so eager to use military force after we’ve just gone through a decade of war at enormous costs to our troops and to our budget? And what is it exactly that these critics think would have been accomplished?" Obama said during a press conference with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III. "And what is it exactly that these critics think would have been accomplished?"

Speaking in midafternoon in Manila but at 3:40 a.m. back home in Washington, Obama showed some irritation as he responded to Fox News reporter Ed Henry's question about the administration's overarching foreign policy doctrine and about "critics who say they think the doctrine is weakness."

"Frankly, most of the foreign policy commentators that have questioned our policies would go headlong into a bunch of military adventures that the American people had no interest in participating in and would not advance our core security interests," Obama said.

After complaining that he lacked time to mount a full defense of his global foreign policy approach, the president took more than seven minutes to address the criticism. He didn't name any particular critics but may have had in mind both former Bush administration officials and think tank experts, as well as some more hawkish voices on Capitol Hill, such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz..) (A spokesman for McCain did not respond to a request for comment.)

"The point is that for some reason many who were proponents of what I consider to be a disastrous decision to go into Iraq haven’t really learned the lesson of the last decade, and they keep on just playing the same note over and over again. Why? I don’t know," Obama said. "If there are occasions where targeted, clear actions can be taken that would make a difference, then we should take them. We don't do them because somebody sitting in an office in Washington or New York think it would look strong. That's not how we make foreign policy."

While Obama's typical media criticism often singles out 24-hour news networks, another jab he delivered Monday suggested that the Sunday morning political talk shows — considered by some to be among the driest news programming on network TV — are too superficial and too focused on political conflict.

"if you look at the results of what we've done over the last five years, it is fair to say that our alliances are stronger, our partnerships are stronger, and in the Asia Pacific region, just to take one example, we are much better positioned to work with the peoples here on a whole range of issues of mutual interest. And that may not always be sexy. That may not always attract a lot of attention, and it doesn’t make for good argument on Sunday morning shows. But it avoids errors. You hit singles, you hit doubles; every once in a while we may be able to hit a home run. But we steadily advance the interests of the American people and our partnership with folks around the world," the president said.

The president accused his critics of both opportunism and a kind of intellectual dishonesty over issues like Syria and Ukraine.

"Those who criticize our foreign policy with respect to Syria, they themselves say, 'No, no, no, we don’t mean sending in troops.' Well, what do you mean? 'Well, you should be assisting the opposition.' Well, we’re assisting the opposition. What else do you mean? 'Well, perhaps you should have taken a strike in Syria to get chemical weapons out of Syria.' Well, it turns out we’re getting chemical weapons out of Syria without having initiated a strike. So, what else are you talking about? And at that point it kind of trails off," Obama declared.

On Ukraine, Obama took a similar tack, fencing verbally with an absent opponent who unsurprisingly lost the match.

"'We shouldn’t be putting troops in,' the critics will say. 'That’s not what we mean.' Well, OK, what are you saying? 'Well, we should be arming the Ukrainians more.' Do people actually think that somehow us sending some additional arms into Ukraine could potentially deter the Russian army? Or are we more likely to deter them by applying the sort of international pressure, diplomatic pressure and economic pressure that we’re applying?" Obama asked.

The only direct blow Obama delivered during his response was aimed at Fox News.

"There are actually some complimentary pieces, as well, about my foreign policy, but I’m not sure you ran them," the president said tartly at the outset of his answer.